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Has anyone successfully removed the airbag stickers that are affixed to the sun visors? If so, can you tell me what is the best method that will not ruin the covering of the sun visors.
I know its about 3 years late but I had a crack at this today.
First the bad news.... they are not stickers. It is painted directly onto visor so heat will not make any difference (i tried up to volcano heat).
More bad news... its also not the kind of stuff that can be removed with "white spirt / alcohol"... these have little or no effect.
In fact I went past the point today where I really should have given up but I did not want to be defeated!
However, there is some good(ish) news.
First off the visor mirror cover can be easily removed... just shove something that is flat(ish) soft plastic just below one of the mirror visor hinges (while open) and then gently shut the visor... this should make the hinge pop out.
Once out I'm affraid its hard graft. The only thing I had to hand that would remove the paint was "T-Cut". Role on A LOT of rubbing and the paint is gone.
The good news is that although I had to resort to some heavy duty stuff to remove the paint, the actual colour of the Visor wasn't affected by the T-cut.
However there is a WARNING. To get the paint off I had to rub that much that the area where the airbag paint was has been polished. So I have not got a perfect finish (which is a little annoying). It looks fine head on but when you look at an angle you can see the shine. See the pictures below to see what i mean.
The end result is I have a bit of a mirror finish... but I think it is better than the terrible airbag sign? However, what do you think... Have I made it better or worse??????
How the airbag sign looks....
How it looks head on after I wore my fingers to the bone... looking good?
However, looking to the side, the ghost of airbag is still there. Possibly going to be annoying in certain sunlight reflection situations?
But is it worse than having the airbag sign??????????
On a final note, I am not sure why it is neccessary to virtually engrave these warning signs onto stuff? I know it must be some kind of legal requirement but surely a simple sticker would surfice?
These visor mirror covers are so easy to remove (and very basic) what would be ideal if some Entrepreneur would knock out some colour matched replacements!
Last edited by flibberflops; 04-07-2015 at 01:13 PM.
A friend of mine did remove his with just mineral spirits from a Porsche visor. He left a damp cloth with mineral spirits on the "sticker" on the visor over night and it came all off the next day.
Actually after testing on the 2nd visor I now feel slightly better. I have just tried every stain remover product I could find in my Kitchen. None of them had any effect on the paint, even after soaking the paint is still in A1 condition. It really is tuff stuff!
Last edited by flibberflops; 04-07-2015 at 02:51 PM.
Initially I thought you were referring to the airbag warning sticker on the passenger side sun-visor that is visible to all when the sun-visor is in the retracted position and not in use (at least on U.S. XJs).
I was fortunate enough to find a leather CD/pen/credit card holder that covered that matched my interior trim color and hid that hideous sticker. The warning sticker on the the vanity mirror cover of the driver's sun-visor never bothered me, only because it normally isn't visible.
When I am elected emperor, I shall outlaw all warning stickers on the basis that they interfere with natures natural selection process. Anybody dumb enough to hit themselves with a hammer or fall off the top of a ladder should be allowed to do so in the hope they don't procreate additional idiots.
It seems the newer UK XJ's (thankfully) only have the warning stickers on both the mirror covers, so you only see them when the visor is flipped down. However, I still find it really distracting.
I guess the difference is that I like to sit up high, which is great for a commanding view but when you flip the sun visor down and have that warning sticker right in your face, I find it almost as distracting as the Sun itself!
On previous UK cars I have owned, there has only been one warning sticker on the passenger side. It seems excessive to not only have two but also to use nuclear proof paint!
It seems the newer UK XJ's (thankfully) only have the warning stickers on both the mirror covers, so you only see them when the visor is flipped down. However, I still find it really distracting.
I guess the difference is that I like to sit up high, which is great for a commanding view but when you flip the sun visor down and have that warning sticker right in your face, I find it almost as distracting as the Sun itself!
On previous UK cars I have owned, there has only been one warning sticker on the passenger side. It seems excessive to not only have two but also to use nuclear proof paint!
Well then, here is a thought. Here in the U.S. only the driver's side (left hand sitting in the car) vanity mirror cover has a warning label; the passenger side (right hand) vanity mirror cover is free of any label. Other than the warning label the two vanity mirror covers look identical and appear interchangeable.
Therefore, if you were able to obtain two U.S. replacement right hand (passenger side here in the U.S.) covers, you could probably use them to replace both of your mirror covers with ones which have no warning label. The only thing is you would have to order the correct color (mine are Ivory, to match the headlining and seat color of my car).
I hope you find this useful. (Please not my car is a 2011 model, later ones might have labels on both visors).
Last edited by johndahlheimer; 04-08-2015 at 05:04 PM.
On a side note I find the sun visors more or less useless given the seating position and low roof line. In fact I have injured myself a few times getting in and out of the car when left in the down position. I have to set the seat at it lowest position to even see under sun visor when driving but they do limit visibility.
09-22-2012, 11:25 AM
